Last evening I had the unmitigated privilege to watch an interview between journalists about how much they can write, or cover a story, and how little the world at large pays any attention to what they are writing about. (Please notice the title in particular the word “rubbish.”) When used by most authors they use it in a cunningly fashion, dispelling what or from where rubbish comes from or means.

Therefore, to set the record straight, “rubbish” originally is translated from the Greek language and carries the connotation of human bowel excrement. It is I believe imperative to understand the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippian people whereby be readily admits “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbishin order that I may gain Christ.” (Phil 3:8 NASB)

President Obama on Wednesday said bluntly that the behaviors described in accusations that the comedian Bill Cosby drugged women for sex would constitute nothing less than rape, and he said the country should have “no tolerance” for such actions.

In his first comments on the decades-old accusations against Mr. Cosby, the president sought to carefully avoid a direct comment on civil legal actions that have been lodged against the longtime comedian and television star by several women in recent years. And he dismissed the idea that he might revoke the Presidential Medal of Freedom conferred on Mr. Cosby by President George W. Bush in 2002.

“There’s no precedent for revoking a medal,” Mr. Obama said in answer to an off-topic question during a long news conference that was otherwise focused on the nuclear deal with Iran announced Tuesday. “We don’t have that mechanism.” Are you sure about that Mr. Obama?

He added that he made it “a policy not to comment” on cases in which legal action was pending. Is this to include the Harvard professor, Treyvon Martin, George Zimmerman, the entire cities of Baltimore, Charleston, and Ferguson MO with regards to Michael Brown, the police officers involved, and authorizing the Justice department to do a full scale investigation under the then found guilty of Contempt of Court, USAG Eric Holder?

“I’ll say this,” Mr. Obama said. “If you give a woman or a man, for that matter, without his or her knowledge, a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape.” As if this practice has not been used by other big wigs.

In the deposition, Mr. Cosby, now 77, did not admit to drugging unwitting women, suggesting instead that the women had consented to taking the pills and having sex with him. Even so, some of his accusers have treated the deposition as a vindication of their claims. Mr. Cosby has denied the assault accusations, and he has never faced criminal charges.

His decision to answer the question, and to go further by commenting on the nature of the accusations against Mr. Cosby, suggests that Mr. Obama was eager to lend his voice to the discussion about sexual violence that has arisen from the scandal.

Mr. Obama has often used news conferences to weigh in on topics of intense interest in popular culture. In one of his first news conferences as president, in 2009, he said he thought a white Cambridge police officer was “stupid” to have arrested a black Harvard professor. That comment led to a weeklong furor that ended after Mr. Obama sat down for a “beer summit” with the officer and the professor at the White House. Written with assistance from the New York Times.